politics Archives - Completely Machinima

S3 E90 Unreal Engine: The Crown | Hunt (August 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes August 16, 2023 Leave a reply

This week we feature two films by Chinese artist collective studio, Motzify Mohua. These two shorts, The Crown and Hunt, are made in Unreal Engine and show extraordinary qualities in very different ways: The Crown is a fairytale made originally for World Children’s Day and illustrates traditional cultural references with gorgeous imagery; Hunt is a cyberpunk anti-hero teaser. Our main ‘complaint’ is that we need more detail from the artists!

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

Films, The Crown, released on 1 June 2023

Hunt, released on 5 May 2023

Political references also in our film review E81 Still Here, also made in Unreal Engine

Don’t forget to check out Phil’s M achiniplex Remastered curated machinima site. One we mention in this episode that was particularly inspirational in the context of this week’s film reviews is Snow Witch (Britannica Dreams, released 2006), film link –

S3 E81 Still Here (June 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 15, 2023 Leave a reply

Still Here… a chilling dystopian tale of a world devasted by climate crisis and wealth inequality. This week’s review is of a film by Guido Ekker, featured on the Film Shortage Channel (YouTube), and is one of the few shorts we’ve seen that attempts to make a point beyond pure entertainment. We identify some of the stereotypical tropes used and discuss the creative potential of machinima and virtual production for this kind of political messaging – all with our usual critical bonhomie.

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

Film, released 17 April on the Film Shortage Channel, YouTube –

and also available on The Panics website here

The Orville, TV show

S2 Ep 46: Film Review – Facing the Wolf

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 15, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, we focus our discussion on Facing the Wolf, a series of films by Iain Douglas and Mark Coverdale, submitted to the Milan Machinima Film Festival 2022. The film presents a series of provocative ideas which provoke Ricky, Phil, Tracy and Damien to have a deep discussion on the role of information, ambiguity and audience investment. What are your thoughts on the film series?

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

Facing the Wolf, by Iain Douglas and Mark Coverdale, released 2021

Poem, Coverdale – https://www.artschoolmodpoet.com/facing-the-wolf-poems

A trilogy of poetic machinima –

Facing the Wolf: i, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

Facing the Wolf: ii, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

Facing the Wolf: iii, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

1:35 Interview with Matteo Bittanti, Milan Machinima Film Festival

5:00 Ricky poses an interesting question: is machinima an animation style or a form of art that ideas can dominate, as opposed to feelings?

27:56 Discussion: for idea films, do you have to have more information than the film provides to appreciate the work? What is the role of ambiguity in filmmaking? How much time should audience invest in understanding a film?

Useful lnks

Luis Bunuel’s An Andalusian Dog (1929)